Improvement in handle attachments to small-arms



E. (:HA L SWORTH.

Gun Stock.

Patented Ot. 3, 1865.

N.PEYERs, PHOTO-LITHOGRAPHER, WASHINGTON. D, (:4

UNITED STATES- PATENT OFFICE.

EDWARD OHARLESWORTH, OF LONDON, ENGLAND, ASSIGNOR TO CHARLES P. BUTTON, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 50,312, dated October 3, 1865.

To all whom it may concern."

Be it known that I, EDWARD CHARLES- WORTH, of Whittington Olub, Arundel Street, London, in the county of Middlesex, England, have invented a new and Improved Method of Oounteracting the Recoil of Small Fire-Arms and of Lessening the Risk of Injury Arising from the Bursting of the same; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description thereof, reference being bad to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon.

My invention, to which I give the name of The Safety-Elevator, consists of a handle or stock which Iattach to the barrel of smallarms, in order to enable the person firing the gun to counteract the recoil and diminish the risk of injury to which he is exposed in case r the barrel of the gun should burst in the act of firing. I shape such handle or elevator of such a form that it may conveniently lit the grasp of the hand, and 1 make it of wood, metal, or other strong material, either with or without a covering of vulcanized rubber or other elastic substance. (See Figure l of the drawings, representing such handle.)

I connect the elevator with the barrel of the gun in the following manner: I make the barrel with an outside metal boss or knob, formed during the process of forging the barrel or subsequently fixed upon it by welding. (See Fig. 2, where the knob is shown at b.) This knob is placed at a distance from the breech varying from eight to eighteen inches and on the under part or a little to the left of the'barrel when the fire-arm is raised to discharge it. I hollow out this knob in the center and form it into a female screw to receive a corresponding metal screw at one end of the elevator, (see a, Fig. 1;) and the elevator, when screwed into the knob,has its long axis perpendicular to the long axis of the barrel. (See Fig. 3.)

This elevator or handle enables the person tiring the gun to obtain so great a power of control over the recoil that the same amountof powder and shot can be fired from a gun of this description held in the hands alone as can be fired safely from the common fowlingpiece resting against the shoulder.

By the use of this elevator I also obtain a great reduction in the risk of injury from the bursting of the gun. The left hand of the shooter grasps the elevator and does not come in contact with the barrel of the piece. At the same time it is removed from the breech of the gun, which is the point of greatest danger on the occurence of an explosion. (See Fig. 3

1 apply this elevator to small-arms generally, whether intended for firing shot or ball; but when applied to the ordinary fowling-piece, or to small-arms ofany description furnished with a butt or shoulder-piece, the advantage gained by the use of the elevator will mainly be that of the diminished risk of injury to the shooter in the eventot' the barrel bursting. The more important application, however, is to that class of guns called staff or stick guns, used without a shoulder-piece and fired from the hands only. (See Fig. 3.)

When the elevator is applied to double-barrel fire-arms the knob which receives the elevator should be made larger, so that it may connect both barrels.

In using the elevator with the common fowling-piece a hole should be drilled through it, in order to receive the ramrod.

In the use of the elevator, sofar as the recoil is concerned, it answers the purpose of the stock and is a substitute therefor. In bringing the gun to bear upon an object the left hand grasps the elevator and gives instant and easy control of the gun, enabling the sportsman to point it in any direction at a moments notice much more readily and efiectively than when his hands and arms are bent and cramped, as is the case in using the ordinary fowling-piece with the bn tt resting against the shoulder and the'hand claspiug the barrel near the breech. The left hand is thus removed from the barrel, and it is almost impossible that either the thumb or fingers should be injured in case of the bursting of the bar-' rel-a result frequently occurring when a gun bursts held in the ordinary manner.

. Instead of attaching the elevator to the gunbarrel by a screw, it may be done by means of a band or ring or its equivalent.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

The handle or safety-elevator above described, for the purposes to which it is applicable, as above set forth, in connection with a gun constructed without the ordinary stock or shoulder-rest.

EDW. OHARLESWORTH. Witnesses:

JAMES E. NAYLOR, 1. WILLsDoN, J r. 

